SATURDAY 04 NOVEMBER 2017

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b09bxklv)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b09d67xn)
Anthony Powell: Dancing to the Music of Time, Episode 5

Born in 1905 among a new and brilliant generation of writers, Anthony Powell was the literary genius who gave us A Dance to the Music of Time, an undisputed classic of English literature. Anthony Powell wrote his spectacular 12 volume sequence over a 25 year period. This comic masterpiece teems with idiosyncratic characters, capturing 20th century Britain through war and peace.

In this portrait of a literary master from one of our generation's greatest biographers, Hilary Spurling draws on Powell's letters and journals, and the memories of those who knew him.

Investigating the friends, relations, lovers, acquaintances, fools and geniuses who surrounded him, she reveals the comical and tragic events that inspired one of the greatest fictions of the age.

Written by Hilary Spurling
Abridged by Sara Davies
Read by Hattie Morahan
Directed by Lizzie Davies
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09bxklx)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09bxklz)

SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09bxkm1)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b09bxkm3)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b09cvr9w)

A reading and a reflection to start the day, with Canon Sarah Rowland Jones, priest in charge of the City Parish of St John the Baptist in Cardiff.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b09cvr9y)
Evacuating a Greek migrant camp

We revisit a camp in Greece which is being closed down as the camp's former manager accuses the Greek government of corruption. iPM@bbc.co.uk.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b09bxkm5)

The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (b09c0m4r)
Climbing High Pike with Sir Chris Bonington

High Pike in the Lake District is far from the highest peak Sir Chris Bonington has scaled yet from its summit he can see some of the most magnificent views in the Northern Fells and the place he calls home. Helen Mark attempts to keep up with one of the UK's most renowned mountaineers as they climb High Pike together and discovers, not just his incredible story of love and loss but also his passion for the area of Caldbeck itself.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b09bxkm7)
Trade after Brexit

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b09bxkm9)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b09cvrb0)

News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b09bxkmc)
Reggie Yates

Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles are joined by broadcaster and actor Reggie Yates. From Desmonds to Top of the Pops, he's been on camera nearly all of his life, but it's as a documentary filmmaker that he's now familiar, investigating everything from religion in South Africa, race and homophobia in Russia to gun crime in Chicago.
John Virgo has spent the last forty years playing snooker as a player and commentator. Famous for his impersonations of fellow players from Ray Reardon to Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins and and his jazzy waistcoats, he'll be telling us how he went from a childhood in Salford, through smoky snooker dens, to winning the UK Snooker Championship.
Mandy Hickson is a former Royal Air Force fast jet pilot - only the second woman to fly a Tornado GR4 aircraft - who served on the front line defending the no fly zone in the Gulf.
Julia Newth is a Bewick swan specialist at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, who is awaiting the arrival of the Bewick swans to the UK this weekend from their summer billets in Russia's Arctic north.
The musician, Benny Andersson, formerly of the seventies group Abba reveals his Inheritance Tracks - Rattvikarnas Ganglat by Dalarnas Spelmansforbund Mon oeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix (Samson Et Dalila) by Maria Callas.

If you are listening to this programme on demand, competitions may no longer be running.

Unseen by Reggie Yates is published by BBC Books.
Say Goodnight JV - John Virgo - My Autobiography is published by John Blake.


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (b09cvrb7)
Series 18, Lancaster

Jay Rayner and his panel of experts are in Lancaster. Dr Annie Gray, Sue Lawrence, Paula McIntyre and Tim Hayward answer the foodie questions this week.

Delving into Lancaster's rich culinary history, the panellists discuss the contested origin of the sirloin steak, indulge in cockles and flounder, and sample a wide variety of pies.

Questions from the audience include how to cook the best omelette, how to enliven a leftovers pie, and whether canned or dried pulses are best.

Producer: Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

Food consultant: Anna Colquhoun

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (b09cvrb9)

Paul Waugh of HuffPost UK look behind the scenes at Westminster.
The editor is Marie Jessel.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b09bxkmf)

Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (b09bxkmh)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (b09cvrbc)
Insurance renewal notices breaking FCA rules

The latest news from the world of personal finance.


SAT 12:30 The Now Show (b09c0x7r)
Series 51, Episode 1

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis re-cap the week via topical stand-up and sketches with guests Sindhu Vee, Tez Ilyas, Pippa Evans and Luke Kempner.

Producer...Victoria Lloyd
A BBC Studios Production.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b09bxkmk)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b09bxkmm)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b09c0ynk)
Kirsty Blackman MP, Katie Perrior, John Redwood MP, Chuka Umunna MP

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Haybridge High School & Sixth Form in Hagley, Worcestershire, with Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party at Westminster Kirsty Blackman MP, political commentator Katie Perrior, Conservative MP John Redwood and Labour MP Chuka Umunna.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b09bxkmp)

Listeners have their say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 14:30 Drama (b09cvrbf)
Jayne Lake

One of Britain's finest TV writers comes to Radio 4 with a taut psychological thriller that can only be told in sound.

While at university, Meggie lost her sight in an acid attack. Fifteen years later, through grit and tenacity, she has learned to cope with her "dark gift", making a success of her life as an audiobook director. Now, an invitation to join her old college friends at a country cottage offers a chance to mend some broken bridges. But it is not long before the shadows of her past begin to re-emerge.

Jayne Lake is a chilling look at the tests of friendship and the altered perception caused by time and changing circumstance. Told from the perspective of a blind person, the play follows Meggie's terror and confusion as she strains to understand a series of shocking events and the silences in between.

Featuring a debut performance from comedian Georgie Morrell, who lost her own sight in her early twenties.

The writer, Matthew Graham, is the co-creator of Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes. He has also written for, among other things, Spooks, This Life and Doctor Who.

Writer - Matthew Graham

Music and Sound Design - Steve Bond
Director - Kate Rowland
Producer - Russell Finch
Executive Producer - Jeremy Mortimer

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 15:30 Opening Night (b09dlv4c)

Manchester is culturally more confident than it's ever been and theatre has always been one of its great strengths. But is regional theatre bound by its geographical limits, or is its success crucially linked to a sense of local identity?

Poet and dramatist, Michael Symmons Roberts, takes us behind the scenes at Manchester's £25 million arts centre, HOME, and its latest production Uncle Vanya to ask what is theatre for? Michael meets HOME's chief exec Dave Moutry and Artistic Director, Walter Meierjohann as he works with the cast in rehearsal, to examine what a 100 year old classic play can say to a modern audience. From there Michael goes to Hope Mill Theatre, an independent venue producing critically acclaimed musicals. He also talks to Richard Gregory one of the creative minds behind Quarantine Theatre company, and he's joined by the playwright Simon Stephens, actor Julie Hesmondhalgh and Kevin Bourke, a theatre critic and chair of the Manchester Theatre Awards, to discuss the notion of 'regional' to distinguish between theatres in London, and playhouses outside it.

Producer: Cecile Wright.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b09cvrbh)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Susannah Constantine on her move from fashion to fiction

Susannah Constantine discusses her move from fashion to fiction. She tells us how the main character of her new book After the Snow, Esme Munroe is loosely based on herself.

We talk about sex in long term relationships with the therapist Esther Perel and hear from Lizzie who wishes for a more passionate sex life.

The author Catherine Hewitt tells us about her new biography Renoir's Dancer: the secret life of Suzanne Valadon, a model and talented artist. She was a 19th century woman fighting to find a professional voice in a male dominated art world.

New research has shown that interviews with older celebrity mothers are misleading women by ignoring fertility problems and IVF. Rosie Bray has written a book about her IVF treatment and Karen tells us about her experience.

A new documentary about Winnie Mandela is being shown at the Film Africa Festival. The director Pascale Lamche talks about making the film and why Winnie Mandela became such a divisive figure in South Africa's political history.

We discuss selective mutism, which affects around one in 140 young children, mostly girls, with Katherine Josling mother of Rosa who has selective mutism and Alison Wintgens the national advisor for selective mutism for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

And we hear from Dr Delia Jarrett-Macauley talking about Una Marson the first female poet of significance to emerge in West Indies Literature

Presented by Jane Garvey
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor:Jane Thurlow.


SAT 17:00 PM (b09bxkmt)
Saturday PM

Full coverage of the day's news.


SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (b09c0p97)
Foreign Investment in the UK

What makes the UK an attractive place for foreign companies to invest in? Britain has tended to enjoy high levels of inward investment thanks to its open economy. How might this change when the UK leaves the EU?
Evan Davis and guests explore the topic.

Joining Evan Davis are:
Ian Robertson, Global Head of BMW sales and marketing
Vera Wei, Chief Executive of Sloan Education
David Landsman, Executive Director of Tata Limited.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b09bxkmw)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b09bxkmy)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09bxkn0)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b09bxkn2)
Jason Isaacs, Timothy West, Michaela Strachan, Phil Wang, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Anoushka Lucas, Scottee, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Scottee are joined by Jason Isaacs, Michaela Strachan, Timothy West and Phil Wang for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from !!! (Chk Chk Chk) and Anoushka Lucas.

Producer: Sukey Firth.


SAT 19:00 Profile (b09cvrmc)
Paul Manafort

Series of profiles of people who are currently making headlines.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b09bxkn4)
Heather at the Bush Theatre; 78/52 film; Ali Smith's novel, Winter; Monochrome at the National Gallery; Babylon Berlin

Heather is a play at London's Bush Theatre about a reclusive children's author who becomes famous
78/52 is a star-studded 90 minute film analysing the infamous shower scene in Hitchcock's Psycho. In less than three minutes it has 78 set-ups and 52 edit cuts and is a transformatory moment of cinema.
Ali Smith's second novel in her seasonal series is Winter; family ructions around a Christmas gathering looking back through previous gatherings
Monochrome at The National Gallery in London is an exhibition looking at how and why artists in different eras have worked in black and white. And nowadays they can work in no colour palette at all
Babylon Berlin is a new 16 part, €38m series beginning on Sky Atlantic, set in the decadent world of the Weimar era German capital.
Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Gillian Slovo, Damian Barr and Gaylene Gould. The producer is Oliver Jones.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b09cvrmf)
Missing Isaiah Berlin

Sir Isaiah Berlin was a rare beast. Educated in philosophy and the history of ideas, he could turn his generalist mind to most subjects and talk engagingly. Audiences loved him, his broadcast lectures and his appearances on discussion shows. This quintessential Oxford don was the benchmark public intellectual.

Twenty years after Berlin's death, philosopher Jonathan Wolff goes in search of the Isaiah Berlins of today. Where is this particular kind of public intellectual? Does it matter If they are no longer around and what, if anything, has replaced them?

Contributors include - Baroness Mary Warnock, crossbench life peer and moral philosopher; Professor Stefan Collini, author of Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain; Professor Timothy Garton Ash, author of Free Speech; Henry Hardy, literary executor of Isaiah Berlin; Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas; and Professor Daniel Drezner, author of The Ideas Industry.

Producer: Dom Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 21:00 Drama (b09by2st)
Tsar, Lenin: Tears

In 1917, the Romanov dynasty came to an end and the Soviet era began. Lenin's first priority on returning from exile and joining the provisional
government was to get Russia out of the First World War, but not all of his fellow- revolutionaries agreed. And as the Duma wavered, the
Bolsheviks seized their opportunity for complete power.
By Mike Walker

Director Alison Hindell

For the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Radio 4's ambitious chronicle of Russian leaders reaches the present day.
Earlier series of TSAR have covered the reigns of Ivan IV (aka The Terrible), Boris Godunov, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Alexander I and
Alexander II, the liberator of the serfs.

The final season takes in Nicholas II and the Revolution, Stalin and finally, Putin.

The dramas are produced by Alison Hindell and Sasha Yevtushenko.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b09bxkn6)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b09bz16j)
The Morality of Self-Determination

Before the Cava corks had finished popping to celebrate Catalonia's declaration of independence, direct rule was imposed from Madrid, the region's autonomy stripped away; its president sacked. It was a tumultuous few minutes by any country's standards. To some, the Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont is a traitor to Spain who should face criminal charges. To others, he is a Catalan patriot fighting for the region's right to self-determination - a cardinal principle of international law enshrined in the UN charter. When such a right collides with the territorial integrity of a state, competing ideas of democracy emerge. Separatists decry scenes of women being pulled out of polling stations by their hair and the detention of what they call political prisoners. Those sympathetic to the Madrid government are convinced it is they who have the moral high ground and that the actions of Catalan leaders amount to a serious breach of the Spanish constitution. A key moral question centres on what is meant by the "will of the people". In the case of Catalonia, should we base our moral judgements on the 90% who voted for independence in the illegal referendum (which only had a 43% turnout) or on the majority of Catalans who, for whatever reason, didn't vote? Does a democratically-mandated central government have a moral duty to uphold the rule of law for the sake of unity, or can self-determination trump the duty of loyalty to the nation? What are the moral boundaries of self-determination? When, if ever, is a unilateral declaration of independence morally justified?
Witnesses are Chris Bambery, Joan Costa Font, Jose V.Rodriguez Mora and Diego Zuluaga.

Producer: Dan Tierney.


SAT 23:00 Quote... Unquote (b09byc8z)

The popular perennial quotations programme 'Quote ... Unquote' continues a new series.

The quotations programme 'Quote ... Unquote' continues its new series. Nigel Rees welcomes back and quizzes Actor and Writer Joanna Scanlon, Gadget Guru Olly Mann, Playwright Julian Mitchell and Stand Up Poet Kate Fox.

For over forty years, Nigel Rees has been joined by writers, actors, musicians, scientists and various comedy types. Kenneth Williams, Judi Dench, PD James, Larry Adler, Ian KcKellen, Peter Cook, Kingsley Amis, Peter Ustinov... have all graced the Quote ... Unquote stage.

Join Nigel as he quizzes a host of guests on the origins of sayings and well-known quotes, and gets the panel to share their favourite anecdotes.

Episode 5 Guests:

Playwright and Screenwriter Julian Mitchell
Award Winning Podcaster and Gadget Guru Olly Mann
Actor and Writer Joanna Scanlan
Stand Up Poet Kate Fox

Presenter ... Nigel Rees
Reader ... Charlotte Green
Producer ... Katie Tyrrell
Production co-ordinator ... Beverly Tagg

This is a BBC Studios Production.


SAT 23:30 Conversations on a Bench (b09by2sy)
Series 2, 29/10/2017

Anna Scott-Brown hears more stories from the people who stop to sit beside her on benches around the country.

In this edition, she sits on a bench in London's Chinatown. Throughout the programme a specially commissioned work by the poet Sarah Howe draws on the voices of those passing by - and sometimes pausing on - the bench outside a bubble tea shop in Gerrard Street.

These hidden stories are glimpsed through snatched moments and the painful and beautiful stories people tell Anna in this busy urban setting - the life on hold of an illegal immigrant, the gambler who has lost everything and found God but who is still fighting his addiction, the woman whose father committed suicide after the handover of Hong Kong to China, the political exile turned lawyer, the successful businessman, the artist and the chef.

Throughout it all, the importance of food and family emerges as people speak of where they find their roots - in Mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, London's Chinatown itself - and compare the experiences of being a migrant to Britain with a British-born Chinese.

Hidden lives are revealed and common threads recur as Anna's gentle but insistent questions elicit poignant and profound responses from those sitting on the bench.

Producer Adam Fowler
An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4.



SUNDAY 05 NOVEMBER 2017

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b09cvwq8)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SUN 00:30 Short Works (b09c0w3f)
Series 1, The Curse

By Agnieszka Dale. Annie's condition leads her to utter exotic curses at those around her. Over a cabbage dinner of many colours, things come to a head with her in-laws.

Agnieszka Dale is a Polish-born London-based author. Her stories Fox Season and A Happy Nation appeared on Radio 4 in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Her first collection, Fox Season and Other Short Stories, was published in October 2017.

Writer: Agnieszka Dale
Reader: Daniela Denby-Ashe
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09cvwqb)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09cvwqg)

SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09cvwql)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b09cvwqn)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b09cvy11)
St Michael's Church in Kingsteignton

This week's Bells on Sunday, comes from St Michael's Church in Kingsteignton, Devon. The tower and church were rebuilt in the 15th Century; the bells, however, are from the 20th Century, cast in 1929 by the Gillett and Johnson Foundry in Croydon. We hear them ringing now, Devon style call changes.


SUN 05:45 Profile (b09cvrmc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b09cvwqx)

The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b09cvwr3)
A Guru Is for Life

Musician Jahnavi Harrison draws upon personal experiences to explore the role of the guru and argue that true gurus offer great benefits as we progress through our lives.

For millions of people in the East, having a guru is as common as having an on-going relationship with a doctor or a dentist. However, in the West, the word carries some heavy baggage, often linked to manipulative figures who exploit their disciples.

With help from the music of Abida Parveen and rock 'n' roll legend Johnny Rivers, Jahnavi reveals that a guru is meant to always remind you of who you really are, and what you were born to do. According to the teachings of the ancient Hindu texts the Vedas, the ultimate knowledge that gurus can offer is how to realise the nature of the self and attain a state of freedom and enlightenment.

According to Jahnavi, a true guru is humble, never thinking of themselves as a great teacher, but rather simply as a student of the gurus that went before them. Jahnavi explains, "Every guru is meant to have a guru themselves, and in this way acts like the smallest lens of a telescope - which when stacked in line with the others, allows one to examine the wonders of the night sky up close and with sharp clarity." In this way, the guru acts as a transparent medium for the teachings of their master, and all other masters before - all aiming to be of service in nurturing the disciples' relationship of love and service to God.

Presenter: Jahnavi Harrison
Producer: Max O'Brien
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b09cvyts)
Picnic in the Cairngorms

After a long season out on the moors the workers on a Highland shooting estate relax with a picnic in the last of the Cairngorms sun. Like much of the surrounding land the Gaick Estate makes its living from hunting, shooting and fishing. On the final day of the brown trout season the gamekeepers take their ponies up to a local loch to catch their lunch and barbecue it for the rest of the estate staff.

Producer: Moira Hickey.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b09cvwrf)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b09cvwrm)

The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b09cvwrt)
Bishop James Jones on Hillsborough; Churches on gambling legislation and retreat houses

Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b09cvytv)
Anti-Slavery International

Julie Etchingham makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Anti-Slavery International.

Registered Charity Number: 1049160
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That's the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope 'Anti-Slavery International'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Anti-Slavery International'.


SUN 07:57 Weather (b09cvws2)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b09cvws6)

The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b09cvytx)
One Teacher, One Father

Guy Fawkes Day, or Bonfire Day, is a day which has historically emphasised divisions in society. In this service, live from St Joseph's Catholic Church in inner city Bradford, we hear that we are all sisters and brothers in Christ's love. The Celebrant is Father Timothy Whitwell and the Preacher is Father Michael Hall. The music is led by the Diocese of Leeds' Bradford Catholic Youth Choir celebrating the hope, potential and talent of the young.

Director of Music: Thomas Leech
Organist: David Pipe

Producer: Andrew Earis.


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b09c0ynm)
Men Against Women

Will Self says we need creative solutions to end institutional misogyny and abuse.

"Rather than addressing - as parliamentarians currently are - the business of shutting the stable door after the stallions have run amok", he writes, "we should be thinking about how to keep it closed in the first place".

Producer: Adele Armstrong.


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b09by75m)
Paul Evans on the Carrion Crow

On the eve of Halloween, the silence of a graveyard is broken by the raucous calls of an inky black Crow "Throwing her voice as if coughing up a bone" says Paul Evans in the first of four specially commissioned Halloween tales.

Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.

Producer: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Derek Wood.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b09cvwsn)

Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b09cvwss)

The residents of Ambridge receive shocking news, and Roy faces an impossible dilemma.


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b09cvytz)
Professor Phil Scraton

Professor Phil Scraton is Professor Emeritus at the School of Law at Queen's University Belfast. A criminologist and author, he's director of the Childhood, Transition and Social Justice Initiative and was lead researcher of the Hillsborough Independent Panel.

Born into a working class family in Wallasey in the Wirral in 1949, he attended a seminary at the age of 12. Deciding the religious life was not for him he worked as a bus conductor before attending Liverpool University where he read Sociology.

His early work with Travellers and Liverpool's black community led to an interest in deaths in custody and prison conditions. Then, following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 he would spend the next 28 years researching and writing about the disaster - his book Hillsborough: The Truth was first published in 1999. The Hillsborough Independent Panel's 2012 report led to a second inquest which concluded in April 2016 that the 96 people who died had been unlawfully killed and that fans behaviour had not contributed to the disaster in any way.

Phil and his partner, Deena, have lived in Belfast since 2003. He has two grown-up sons from his first marriage.

Presenter: Kirsty Young
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.


SUN 12:00 News Summary (b09cvwsv)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 The Unbelievable Truth (b09byhny)
Series 19, Episode 5

David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.

Mark Steel, Holly Walsh, Tony Hawks and Fred Macaulay are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as twins, Sean Connery, golf and photography.

Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b09cvyv1)
The Art of Fermentation - A Masterclass

Dan Saladino gets a practical masterclass with the world-renowned teacher and author of 'The Art of Fermentation' - Sandor Ellix Katz.

Presenter: Dan Saladino
Producer: Rich Ward.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b09cvwsx)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b09cvwsz)

Global news and analysis.


SUN 13:30 George Orwell Back at the BBC (b09cvyx3)

Sara Parker documents the creation by eminent sculptor Martin Jennings of an 8 foot high statue of the 1984 author, George Orwell. The programme is broadcast to coincide with the statue's unveiling on 7th November.

For the past 18 months, BBC producer Sara has paid regular visits to Martin's Oxford studio to follow the progress of the statue from a small maquette to the larger than life likeness that will look down on visitors, passers-by and BBC employees alike from its plinth outside New Broadcasting House in central London.

Orwell worked for the Indian service of the BBC during the Second World War. Eton-educated, he had already written his first novel informed by five difficult years in the Indian Imperial police force in Burma. By then, he had also fought in the Spanish Civil War where he nearly died after being shot in the neck. After leaving the BBC in 1943, he went on to write about and champion the disadvantaged in society and expose political injustice and tyranny. Inscribed on the wall behind the statue is Orwell's quote, "Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear".

As a sculptor, Martin Jennings has a reputation for public work throughout the UK - from statues of the famous such as poet John Betjeman, hat clamped to his head, hurrying across the concourse of St Pancras Station, to pioneers such as plastic surgeon Archibald McIndo outside a Sussex hospital where his father was one of his first patients. The humanity of his work is also captured in statues such as a commemoration of Sheffield's women steel workers and one of Mary Seacole to mark the abolition of the slave trade.

The programme reflects Martin's research into Orwell, his life and writings including interviews with two people still alive who actually knew the author - his adopted son Richard Blair and 100 year old Anne Olivier Bell (nee Popham) to whom Orwell proposed after his first wife died. Other contributors include Baroness Whitaker, widow of former Labour MP Ben Whitaker who worked tirelessly during the final years of his life to ensure that a statue of his schoolboy hero became a reality.

Readings by Ian Masters from 1984 with thanks to the estate of the late Sonia Brownell Orwell
Recorded and produced by Sara Parker
Executive Producer: Chris Paling.
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b09c0w3c)
Lincolnshire Hardy Plant Society

Eric Robson visits the Lincolnshire branch of the Hardy Plant Society, with Bunny Guinness, Christine Walkden and Bob Flowerdew.

The panellists discuss ways to utilise a glut of pine needles, suggest planting ideas for lining a driveway, and offer tips on preventing browning in hydrangeas.

They also advise on prepping for a beech hedge and offer the definitive list of climbers for a north-facing wall.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Hester Cant

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b09cvzhm)
Omnibus - Men on Work, Food and Friendship

Fi Glover introduces conversations between men who have built relationships through childhood friendship and working partnerships in the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.


SUN 15:00 Drama (b09cvzhp)
Tsar, Joseph Stalin: The Last Bolshevik

By Mike Walker

In June 1941, when news came through that the Nazis had taken Minsk, 300 miles into Soviet territory, Joseph Stalin retired to his dacha. And there he stayed for three days - refusing to answer the telephone or to see anyone.

What was he doing, at a time when his country needed him most? Had he suffered a mental breakdown? Was he unable to face up to his gross miscalculation that Hitler would not start a war on two fronts? Or did he fear arrest? And was this an act of cunning, to test the loyalty of his inner circle?

Mike Walker's epic chronicle of the Russian Tsars continues with the story of Joseph Stalin and the invasion of the Soviet Union.

The guitarist was Colin Guthrie.

Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.


SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b09cvzhr)
Edward St Aubyn - Mother's Milk

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author Edward St Aubyn, who is best known for his five autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels, which dissect the agonies of family life with honesty, wit and precision. His debut novel Never Mind won a Betty Trask award, while our chosen book is the fourth in the Melrose series, Mother's Milk, and was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker prize.

In Mother's Milk, the middle aged Patrick Melrose is married with two young children. He finds his wife consumed with motherhood and his mother consumed by a New Age Foundation, and about to disinherit him in favour of a suspect Irish shaman. The novel opens with a dazzling scene as Patrick's first son Robert narrates his own birth as it happens, and then grows into a young boy who understands far more about life than he ought. Patrick is caught in the family wreckage of broken promises, child-rearing, adultery and assisted suicide and his once wealthy, illustrious family is in peril.

In this rare interview, Edward St Aubyn admits he does not enjoy discussing his work in public, and says that in Mother's Milk there is less of himself in the character of Patrick than in the previous novels; and he describes the writing processes behind his acerbically funny and disarmingly tender novel.

Presenter : James Naughtie
Interviewed guest : Edward St Aubyn
Producer : Dymphna Flynn

December's Bookclub choice : A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2010).


SUN 16:30 The Little Chinese Maiden (b09cvzxw)

Wordsworth's daughter Catharine may have had Down's Syndrome. If so, how did that change the poet? Biographer and poet Grevel Lindop investigates.

She's just a tiny footnote to history. Only remembered really because Wordsworth wrote two poems about her, Surprised by Joy and Characteristics of a Child Three Years Old. Catharine was born on September 6 1808, and died on June 3rd 1812, aged three years and nine months. She was the fourth child of William and Mary Wordsworth.

All children are special, but there seems to have been something different about Catharine. Again and again, in letters written by the Wordsworth family, there's a sense of something unusual about her looks and her development.

Ever since Grevel Lindop first read about Catharine, he's been wondering what was so distinctive about her. We know that Wordsworth used to call her 'his little Chinese maiden'. Grevel has been wondering whether Catharine Wordsworth had Down's Syndrome.

When little Catharine was alive, Down's Syndrome had not been identified as a condition. It was only in the 1860s, long after Catharine's death, that Dr John Langdon Down published a paper describing it, and it became recognised as a common genetic condition. Catherine seems to have had some of the features of a child with Down's Syndrome, including the cast of the eye which used to be perceived as giving such children an oriental look.

Did Catharine have Down's Syndrome? Grevel decided to ask a doctor and parents of children with Down's Syndrome to look at the evidence - a small portrait miniature and some letters mainly written by Dorothy, Wordsworth's sister, who lived with the family.

Producer: Matt Thompson
A Rockethouse production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b09byv6k)
The Nuclear Option - Powering the Future and Cleaning Up the Past

There a risk we won't get new nuclear hooked up to the grid in time to back up renewable energy like wind power.

There's an aim to generate 16GWe of new nuclear power by 2030.

But experts doubt that's a realistic prospect, with Hinkley Point C years late, and questions over whether investors will risk capital on a proposed plant in Cumbria. And as plans for the future of nuclear power evolve, the legacy of the past also needs to be dealt with.

The government's served notice on a £6billion contract to make safe a dozen of the UK's first nuclear sites, dating back to the 1950s.

It was the most valuable piece of work ever put out to tender by the government.

But the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority gave the job to the wrong consortium. The high court ordered a payout to the rightful winners of £97.3 million in damages.
The National Audit Office says the total cost to the taxpayer is upwards of £122 million.

The government also has to find someone else to clean up the old Magnox power stations and nuclear research sites. The current contractor, Cavendish Fluor Partnership and the NDA agree the job is far bigger than was made clear, and CFP will down tools nine years early.

File on 4 looks at the delays and spiralling costs in decommissioning old power station sites.

So just how well is our nuclear industry being managed?

Producer: Rob Cave
Reporter: Jane Deith
Editor: Gail Champion.


SUN 17:40 Profile (b09cvrmc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b09cvwt1)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b09cvwt3)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09cvwt5)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b09cvwt7)
John McCarthy

Among the thrills in John McCarthy's box of audio fireworks this evening are sparklers from 40 years of the news quiz, a banger of a bottle of ancient wine, and Greg James getting in a spin over Prue Leith.

We're on the tail of Miles Jupp rocketing through Transylvania and exploring ways of sleeping after all the whizz bangs.

So, light the blue touch paper and stand back for Pick of the Week

Producer: Stephen Garner
Production Team: Kay Bishton, Tim Fernley and Alice Platt.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b09cvzxy)

Justin issues an ultimatum, and Alistair has concerns.


SUN 19:15 More Money Than Sense (b09cw08k)

A panel show, hosted by finance writer and comedian Dominic Frisby, that demystifies the obscure subject of pop-economics to show the funny, weird and dark side of finance.

In this pilot episode, we're joined by four money savvy comedians - host of The Bugle podcast Andy Zaltzman, award-winning comedian and columnist Shazia Mirza, ITV'S The Chase Quizmaster Paul Sinha, and comedian and writer Grainne Maguire.

Keeping everything on track and on point we have our resident expert, from Oxford University, economist Dr Natalie Quinn, providing our guests and the audience with amazing facts and figures behind the hard-to-believe answers.

From the cost of organs on the black market to the gender gap in pocket money, if there is a price on it then More Money Than Sense is the show to question it.

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:45 The Reservoir Tapes (b09cy6v3)
Series 1, Claire's Story

Joe Dempsie reads the sixth story in a 15-part series by the award-winning writer, John McGregor.

Thirteen-year-old Becky Shaw has gone missing on a return holiday to a Peak District village. Her shocking disappearance now sparks the memories of a local teenage boy, who is taken back to an unsettling day with her the previous summer...

The fifteen stories of The Reservoir Tapes each stand alone but together build a compelling portrait of a community rocked by tragedy, as they explore events that precede and follow the disappearance the teenage girl. A prequel to Jon McGregor's critically acclaimed Man Booker long-listed novel Reservoir 13, these stories and their different perspectives offer tantalizing glimpses as to might have happened to Becky.

Writer: Jon McGregor is an acclaimed British novelist who has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize three times. His third novel, Even the Dogs, won the International Dublin Literary Award.
Reader: Joe Dempsie is a British actor known for his roles in Skins and Game of Thrones.
Producer: Justine Willett.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (b09c0w3k)

Roger Bolton hears a range of listener views on the Today programme's 60th anniversary live edition. Did some of the presenters bray over gags about sexual harassment and assault?

To kick off the new series of The Moral Maze, Radio 4 has been working in partnership with Dundee University to trial a new piece of technology that aims to help the listener become a more effective debater. Roger gives this innovation a try.

Roger also goes behind the scenes at the Ken Bruce show to find out more about how he and his sidekick Lynn Bowles interact with their listeners. and speaks to the first - and now former - Radio 4 Poet in Residence Daljit Nagra to find out more about the role.

And, erm, well, so... The verbal tics that drive you mad. Why do they pepper so much of a BBC radio broadcaster's natural speech? Socio-linguist Heike Pichler explains what's really going on.

Producer: Kate Dixon
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b09c0w3h)
Harold Pendleton, Glenn Barr, Iona Opie, Gary Flather QC OBE, Sir John Manduell

Matthew Bannister on

Howard Pendleton who made the Marquee Club a launch pad for scores of rock stars including the Rolling Stones, the Who and David Bowie and started the Reading Festival.

Glenn Barr, the Unionist leader who brought Northern Ireland to its knees for thirteen days.

Iona Opie who devoted her life to collecting nursery rhymes and studying children's use of stories and language.

Gary Flather QC, the eminent lawyer who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and campaigned to make the legal profession more accessible for disabled people.

And Sir John Manduell who founded and led the Royal Northern College of Music, building its international reputation.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b09cvrbc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b09cvytv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 Analysis (b09bykhz)
Europe Unbound

Edward Stourton asks how the European Union might change after Britain leaves. "The wind is back in Europe's sails", according to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. In September, in his annual address to the European Parliament, he set out a bold dream for the future. Soon afterwards it was echoed by another, this time from French President Emmanuel Macron who declared that "the only path that assures our future is the rebuilding of a Europe that is sovereign, united and democratic". Amongst the proposals that the two leaders put forward were a European budget run by a European finance minister, an enlargement of the Schengen passport-free travel zone, and much closer collaboration on tax, defence, and a host of other issues.

But at present, the European project faces huge challenges. Britain is about to leave the EU, whilst Catalonia's bid for independence is causing turmoil in Spain. In the face of such developments, how realistic are the grand visions that Europe's leaders have for the future of the continent?

Producer: Neil Koenig.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b09cvwt9)

Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b09c0n18)
Thriller

Antonia Quirke presents a special edition on the thriller. She hears some tricks of the trade from Ronan Bennett, writer of Face, Public Enemies and Gunpowder, who reveals why he thinks thrillers should really be called "tensers". Award-winning editor Walter Murch takes us through a key scene in the classic conspiracy thriller The Conversation and explains how to build paranoia in the audience by embedding subsonic frequencies in the soundtrack. Composer Rachel Portman explains how music can achieve the same effect with the application of low strings and alto saxophone. Alexandre O. Philippe reveals the secrets of the shower scene in Psycho in his new documentary 78/52, including the identity of the painting that covers Norman Bates' peep-hole. Woman In Black director James Watkins reveals how he took screen grabs of fifty of the greatest supernatural thrillers in movie history and dissected their key moments shot by shot in order to learn how to chill the audience to the marrow.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b09cvwr3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 06 NOVEMBER 2017

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b09cvww6)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b09bz02x)
War in the air

War in the air: Laurie Taylor explores the history of aerial bombing and tear gas; from the battlefield to urban streets. He's joined by Thomas Hippler, Professor of Modern History at Caen University, Normandy, Anna Feigenbaum, Senior Lecturer in Digital Storytelling at Bournemouth University and Steve Graham, Professor of Professor of Cities and Society at Newcastle University.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b09cvy11)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09cvww8)

The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09cvwwb)

MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09cvwwd)

The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b09cvwwg)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b09f3yb9)

A reading and a reflection to start the day with Canon Sarah Rowland Jones, Priest in charge of the City Parish of St John the Baptist in Cardiff.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b09cvwwj)
Climate change and farming at 'COP 23'; a farm turning eggs into liquid; and a new UK charter for trees

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


MON 05:56 Weather (b09cvwwl)

The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09cy7hr)
Gary Moore on the Golden Pheasant

Gary Moore describes the elation of tracking down the notoriously elusive golden pheasant and finding it basking in sunshine as it poses for a mate.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photograph: Martin Clay.


MON 06:00 Today (b09cvwwn)

News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (b09cvwwq)
Heart of Darkness: Conrad and Orwell

Andrew Marr discusses the work of Joseph Conrad with his biographer Maya Jasanoff. Conrad wrote about the underbelly of colonialism, terrorism, immigration and isolation and Jasanoff looks at the turn of the twentieth century through the lens of his life and work. While Conrad's Nostromo reflected the changing world order with the emerging dominance of the US and global capitalism, the FT columnist Gideon Rachman looks at the decline of the West amidst the growing power of the East, as well as reflecting on Britain's imperial amnesia. A young George Orwell was also part of the British colonial system in its slow death throes in Burma and the academic Robert Colls explores how these experiences shaped his later work. Ishion Hutchinson has been called a post-colonial poet and his latest collection is haunted by Jamaica's fractured past.
Producer: Katy Hickman.


MON 09:45 Living With The Gods (b09cy7ht)
The House of God

Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a focus on the creation of sacred spaces, built for encountering or engaging with the divine.

Stone tablets in the British Museum detail how a temple was designed and formed in Mesopotamia about 4000 years ago - the first sacred space for which we have a written record. It was a god's home, complete with private areas crafted to meet his every need: kitchens and dining rooms, family rooms and spaces for guests.

Architect Aidan Potter reflects on the ideas and ideals behind the design of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Kericho, Kenya, consecrated in 2015, and Neil views the original models - starting with a curled cardboard sleeve, used on a disposable coffee cup, which Aidan shaped to suggest the high inverted V-shaped roof

Producer Paul Kobrak

The series is produced in partnership with the British Museum, with the assistance of Dr Christopher Harding, University of Edinburgh.
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09cvwws)
Pole dancing, Best Place to be a Woman, Sexual harassment

Pole dancing is now a sport after being recognised by an international sporting body for the first time but can it ever lose its association with strip clubs and exotic dancing? Jane talks to Katie Coates, founder of the International Pole Sports Federation, and Kath Woodward, Professor of Gender Theories and Diversity at the Open University in Milton Keynes.

Rotherham, Hungerford, Dunblane, Aberfan, Lockerbie - all places that have been marked by tragedy or scandal. How can a town move on from the event that put it in the headlines? Or will it always be its dominant identity? As part of our Best Place to be a Woman series, Jane talks to two women about the impact of their hometown's reputation on their daily lives. Sue Wynne from Rotherham, a town at the centre of the child sex abuse scandal, and Gaynor Madgwick, who survived the Aberfan disaster of 1966, discuss.

With more allegations of sexual harassment at Westminster, we'll be talking to co-leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas MP, ahead of a meeting with the Prime Minister on a new grievance procedure in parliament.

Marisa Anderson, a solo guitarist from Oregon, reinvents traditional music. She brings blues, jazz, gospel and country to meet electronic, minimalism, drone and classical. Marisa joins Jane to talk about her love of guitars and to play live in the studio.

A new exhibition, Basic Instincts, at London's Foundling Hospital Museum explores Georgian attitudes to love, desire and female respectability through the radical paintings of Joseph Highmore. Jane talks to Dr Jaqueline Riding, curator, and Caro Howell, director.


MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b09cy7hy)
Blood and Milk, Episode 1

by Gregory Evans

New series. Young Welsh woman, Megan Evans, is growing her dairy business with considerable success. But this success has bred some powerful enemies and they will stop at nothing to ruin her.

Directed by Marc Beeby

In 1900 over half London's milk came from Welsh dairies. One of those dairies, on the Commercial Road, was owned and run by the writer's family.


MON 11:00 The Untold (b09cy90v)
Unfair Dismissal?

Grace Dent returns with a new series of untold stories from modern Britain.

The new series opens with the story of former care home manager Rachel Burns who was sacked after posting a photo of one of her residents on Facebook.

Though Rachel Burns admitted she'd made a number of mistakes in her use of social media, she felt that dismissal was too draconian after 21 years working for her employer, the local council. The Untold follows Rachel over a twelve month period as she pursues an unfair dismissal claim.

The odds seem stacked against her in the employment tribunal. While the council is represented by a barrister, she has no formal legal representation.

And as the case drags on, Rachel's debts mount and the experience starts to take a severe emotional toll.

Will the employment tribunal rule in her favour - or dismiss her claim?

Producer: Laurence Grissell.


MON 11:30 A Month of... (b09cy90x)
A Month of Maureen, Three Journeys

Three Journeys by Gary Brown

In the first of 4 plays written especially for Maureen Lipman, she & Jasper Britton play a mother and son who've always had
a special relationship. Now she needs to persuade him it's time to strike out on his own. She has three journeys to do it in.

Produced and directed by Marion Nancarrow

The first of four plays written especially for the actress, writer, director and author, Maureen Lipman, under the banner "A Month of Maureen".
This is the first of two plays Gary Brown has written. Next week, Marcy Kahan's "Five Lessons" stars Julian Rhind-Tutt and is a comedy about retreating, advancing and the joys of humming. That's followed by Gary Brown's "Dead Rellies", in which Maureen stars with George Layton (of "Doctor in the House" fame) and the series ends with "Theodora Potts: Victorian Psychic" by Tracy-Ann Oberman and Ivor Baddiel, with Tracy-Ann co-starring alongside Maureen.


MON 12:00 News Summary (b09cvwwv)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed (b09cyb8x)
Series 2, Control

Return of the series that explains - in surprising ways - what's really at stake in the great Brexit game. Sovereignty has been one of the great issues as the talks unfold - covering everything from trade rules and regulations to citizens' rights. Whose courts will we actually have to obey after Brexit? And will Brexit change the balance of power inside the UK too? Chris Morris discovers who could be in control when the final deal is done

Producer: Chris Bowlby
Editor: Hugh Levinson.


MON 12:15 You and Yours (b09cvwwx)
Computers selling, Breakdown insurance, DIY disasters

News and discussion of consumer affairs.


MON 12:57 Weather (b09cvwwz)

The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b09cvwx1)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


MON 13:45 Book of the Week (b09cyby5)
Life in the Garden, Reality and Metaphor

Stephanie Cole reads Penelope Lively's intimate meditation on gardening, literature and creativity. Today's episode considers the metaphorical garden, from the Garden of Eden to Monet's water lilies at Giverny.

Penelope Lively has always been a keen gardener. This book is partly a memoir of her own life in gardens: the large garden at home in Cairo where she spent most of her childhood, her Oxfordshire garden and the smaller urban garden in the North London home she lives in today. In this intimate and eloquent work of narrative non-fiction, one of the UK's most cherished and admired writers uses the garden to break open the world for us, and examines how we might encourage our lives to bloom.

Abridged by Siân Preece
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b09cvzxy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (b065vqd2)
Undercover Mumbai, Episode 1

On her release from jail, disgraced police inspector Alia Khan seeks a life of obscurity as a receptionist in a run down Mumbai hotel. But murder soon comes knocking at her door.

Second series of the crime drama set and recorded on location in India. Written by Ayeesha Menon and directed by John Dryden.

Production:
Sound Recordist - Ayush Ahuja
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Script Editor - Phillip Shelley
Music - Sacha Putnam.
Writer - Ayeesha Menon
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Producer - Nadir Khan
Director - John Dryden

A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 15:00 Quote... Unquote (b09cyglk)

The final instalment of the series of the timeless quotations programme 'Quote ... Unquote'. Nigel Rees quizzes Actor and Writer Sally Phillips, Author and Broadcaster Matthew Parris, Historian and Writer Kate Williams and Writer and Actor Frog Stone.

For over forty years, Nigel Rees has been joined by writers, actors, musicians, scientists and various comedy types. Kenneth Williams, Judi Dench, PD James, Larry Adler, Ian KcKellen, Peter Cook, Kingsley Amis, Peter Ustinov... have all graced the Quote ... Unquote stage.

Join Nigel as he quizzes a host of guests on the origins of sayings and well-known quotes, and gets the panel to share their favourite anecdotes.

Episode 6

Historian Kate Williams
Actor and Writer Frog Stone
Actor and Writer Sally Phillips
Columnist and Broadcaster Matthew Parris

Presenter ... Nigel Rees
Reader ... Charlotte Green
Producer ... Katie Tyrrell
Production co-ordinator ... Beverly Tagg

This is a BBC Studios Production.


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b09cvyv1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Hull 2017 (b09cyglm)
Hull City of Culture: Take Flight

Hull has for many years and with little fanfare been producing a disproportionately high number of top ballet dancers through its dance schools - the Skelton Hooper alone claims to have sent more dancers to the Royal Ballet school than any other institution, and stars such as Xander Parish, Joseph Caley, Demelza Parish and the Royal Ballet's Director, Kevin O'Hare, all hail from Hull.

When the Royal Ballet decided to perform at the opening of the Hull New Theatre, it also wanted to celebrate the city's cradling of talent for the benefit of a wider audience, and created the 'Take Flight' project. Over one hundred dancers from four schools are being tutored by members of the Royal Ballet, and will join forces in September to present a free, open-air performance of a specially-commissioned piece of choreography inspired by Swan Lake. The dance will be challenging and reflect the Royal Ballet's own desire to embrace other forms and overturn preconceptions of what ballet might be (one of the four schools specialises in Irish dance).

We hear from the composer of the newly minted score as well as the choreographer teaching the young dancer their moves. Kevin O'Hare explains what it is about the city that makes the dance tradition there is so strong - and make clear his ambition "to create new links with the young talent of Hull'. Before attending the performance itself, we eavesdrop on the training sessions in Hull and hear from the young dancers who will be taking part - as well as their teachers who have for decades been producing so many quality performers.


MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b09cylyp)
Series 12, Shame

Aleks Krotoski explores whether technology is changing our experience and relationship with shame.


MON 17:00 PM (b09cvwx3)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09cvwx5)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b09cylyr)
Series 19, Episode 6

David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.

Mark Steel, Holly Walsh, Tony Hawks and Fred Macaulay are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as doughnuts, jellyfish, twitter and Star Wars.

Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b09cylyt)

Lilian tries to prevent a disaster, and Roy cannot help fearing the worst.


MON 19:15 Front Row (b09cvwx7)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


MON 19:45 Living With The Gods (b09cy7ht)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 20:00 The Confidence Trick (b09czp4l)
Series 1, Episode 2

In the second part of her three part series, Laura Barton explores the extent to which the schools we attend and our social backgrounds more generally play a part in determining our levels of confidence.
She visits a state comprehensive school and an independent fee-paying school, both in the North West of England, to discover how much effort is made to ensure the confidence of pupils is actively developed, and the means by which that development might take place. She questions how far the network of influential contacts more readily made at private schools can help generate confidence in pupils as they set out into the world, but hears too how for many youngsters today a mask of confidence can often cover a sense of insecurity.
Laura speaks to figures such as Joe Queenan, Dreda Say Mitchell and Stuart Maconie about the ways the place you come from can influence confidence, whether that's the vast expanses of America, the East End of London or the industrial north of England. For Queenan, his own self-confidence comes from a combination of indifference to others' attitude towards him, and a childhood in relative poverty. Once you know you can deal with that, he says, such things as public speaking that terrify so many carry little fear.
Laura follows up her notion that an unexpected factor in determining is architecture and the built environment in which we're raised, asking expert John Grindrod how correct Winston Churchill was when he said that, "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."
Presenter: Laura Barton
Producer: Geoff Bird.


MON 20:30 Analysis (b09cympw)
Primate Politics

Professor James Tilley finds out what we can learn about politics from the power struggles within chimpanzee groups and how our evolutionary past may affect the political decisions that we make today. Interviewing primatologists, evolutionary psychologists and political scientists, he explores the parallels between our political world and that of other primates. These include the way politicians form coalitions, how people choose leaders, loyalties to parties and even how, and when, we go to war. These similarities to other primates reflect our evolutionary heritage and the way in which stone-age human groups settled disputes internally and externally.
Producer: Bob Howard.


MON 21:00 Natural Histories (b09byqhy)
Beaver

Beavers are back in the UK, hundreds of years since they last lived among us. Brett Westwood asks if we can recover our cultural links with these architectural animals, as well as remember how to live with the changes they bring to the landscape. Nature writer Jim Crumley talks about their green engineering skills and writer Rachel Poliquin brings the Canadian perspective on what she calls the four great human romances with the beaver: with its castoreum, its musk, its architectural skills and its ecological abilities. With readings by Lia Williams of extracts from Castorologia and Winter by Geoffrey Ursell, and The Beaver by Vernon Watkins.
Producer Beth O'Dea.


MON 21:30 Start the Week (b09cvwwq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b09cvwx9)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09cympy)
First Person, Episode 1

Kif Kehlmann is a penniless writer. He has never been published. In fact, he hasn't even completed his first novel. But he is committed to literature - great literature.

Kif and his wife Suzy have a young daughter and they are also expecting twins, they can't pay their bills and interest rates are spiralling out of control in early 1990s Australia. So when Kif's best mate Ray, who happens to be minder and bodyguard to Australia's most notorious conman, suggests Kif accepts the job offer of ghostwriting the fraudster's memoir, Kif has a dilemma.

But it doesn't take him long to abandon literature in favour of actually getting a book published - and getting paid. The only problem is they have less than six weeks before Australia's most wanted, Ziggy Heidl, goes on trial - and Ziggy appears pathologically incapable of telling the truth about anything.

First Person is the novel Richard Flanagan began to write just before he won the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to The Deep North (2014), a novel which was acclaimed by The Guardian as a masterpiece. He has also been described as the greatest Australian writer of his generation.

As a penniless young writer, he accepted the job of ghostwriting the autobiography of Australia's most famous criminal who was about to go on trial for defrauding the banks of $700 million dollars. John Friedrich, the conman, died before he went to trial. Decades later, Flanagan takes this bizarre, real life episode as the starting point for a chilling and at times darkly funny novel about truth and lies and the difference between good and evil.

Written by Richard Flanagan
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Read by Luke Mullins
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 23:00 Power Lines (b09cyp1z)
Series 1, Politics

A series about how the dynamic world of spoken word poetry is thriving in communities across the whole of the UK.

In three programmes, Power Lines explores the escalating popularity of spoken word among audiences who have traditionally avoided poetry altogether. Through politics, identity and place, presenters Sabrina Mahfouz and Inua Ellams look at how spoken word has become the breeding ground for a whole new generation of writers who are changing poetry in the UK. They cross the country talking to poets from Manchester, Huddersfield, Bury, Edinburgh, Bristol and Wrexham, on boats, in forests, theatres, parks and pubs, challenging the assertion that spoken word is, as poet Joelle Taylor puts it, "the dumb cousin of 'real' poetry".

Programme One: Politics
Poet and playwright Inua Ellams talks to spoken word poet Zia Ahmed who deals with his frustration with racism by 'speaking it out'. Peter Bearder explains how some protest poets are being drawn into mainstream politics through the Labour Party. And he finds 23 year old Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan whose slam competition winning poem has been viewed by over two million people online.

The poems featured in the programme are:

JJ Bola "I Found Hip Hop"
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan " This Is Not A Humanising Poem"
Zia Ahmed "Home"
Joelle Taylor "Everything You Have Ever Lost" and "The Correct Spelling of My Name"
Pete (the Temp) Bearder "Manifesto for a Revolutionary Poetic"

A Wire Free production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b09cvwxc)

Sean Curran reports from Westminster.



TUESDAY 07 NOVEMBER 2017

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b09cvwz5)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b09cyby5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09cvwz7)

The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09cvwz9)

TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09cvwzc)

The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b09cvwzf)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b09f95d4)

A reading and a reflection to start the day, with Canon Sarah Rowland Jones, priest in charge of the City Parish of St John the Baptist in Cardiff.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b09cvwzh)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09cz00v)
Gary Moore on the Manx Shearwater

Wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore tells how he became a launching pad for migrating Manx Shearwater when he took a trip to the island of Skomer off the coast of Wales.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photograph: Lakes4Life.


TUE 06:00 Today (b09cvwzk)

News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Invisible Hand of Donald Trump (b09cz05b)

Donald Trump's surprise elevation to the office of president last November stunned the world and electrified the financial markets. Promises to cut red tape, bring huge infrastructure projects to life, and sort out the byzantine American tax system propelled Wall Street to record highs. It's called the Trump Bump. Yet Trump's protectionist rhetoric simultaneously created fears of a global trade war.

Martin Wolf, Chief Economic Commentator of the Financial Times, reflects on what Trump has accomplished in economic terms in the year since the election heard round the world. Financial systems are recovering from the calamities of the last decade, but that improvement was well under way before Trump took the helm of the world's largest economy. New proposals from the administration are stalled for lack of clarity, infirmity of purpose and political disarray. This doesn't mean that President Trump's decisions on everything from trade tariffs to the Federal Reserve will not send ripples around the globe in the years ahead. He's vowed to deliver tax reform, build a
wall, bring jobs home and tear up trade treaties. Will these promises still be delivered? If they are, what might follow?

Producer: Sandra Kanthal.


TUE 09:45 Living With The Gods (b09cz0jl)
Gifts to the Gods

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on offerings.

High in the Andes in Colombia, the indigenous Muisca population consigned highly-wrought gold figurines to the waters of Lake Guatavita.

Records of the treasures stored in the Parthenon, Athens, dating from around 400BC, reveal numerous gifts for the goddess Athena - gifts with a double role. The Parthenon was also a kind of central bank, capable of operating as a lender of last resort, creating an intimate connection between the temple of a goddess and the finance of the state.

Producer Paul Kobrak

Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09cvwzm)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b09cz0jn)
Blood and Milk, Episode 2

by Gregory Evans

Megan Evans refuses to believe that the man claiming to be her half-brother is who he says he is. But he has documents to prove it and now Meg's business is under threat.

Directed by Marc Beeby.


TUE 11:00 Natural Histories (b09cz0jq)
Giraffe

Brett Westwood admires how the impossible-looking creature once known as the 'camelopard' went from a beloved creature in the African plains to becoming a worldwide sensation spreading 'giraffemania' as news and sightings of its striking beauty travelled around the world. Author Michael Allin tells the story of 'Zarafa' a giraffe taken from Ethiopia to the docks of Marseille that then walked into the heart of Paris, art historian Dr Alexandra Loske describes how King George IV's ailing giraffe was a metaphor for his rule of Britain. We hear from a man whose project sent giraffes viral way before the internet had been taken over by cat and dog memes and we take a more serious look at how giraffe numbers are falling but the world seems not to be listening.

Producer: Tom Bonnett.


TUE 11:30 Jim - We Love You Because... (b09cz0zs)

Tayo Popoola explores Nigeria's enduring love of Jim Reeves and country music.

Over 50 years after his death, American country music legend Jim Reeves has maintained his popularity to a truly remarkable extent. Up until the 1980s, his label RCA continued to release new records almost yearly, and his many fans would eagerly snap them up. Today, his importance is still hotly discussed online, in message boards and chat rooms.

Where is the happening? In Nigeria.

Few musical forms appear more quintessentially American than country and western. But despite the genre's deep ties to cowboys and open skies, Nigeria became entranced by the fiddle and yodel heavy music. By the 1960s, as Nashville-based performers like Reeves and his producer Chet Atkins moved country toward an increasingly slick sound, the music had become a part of everyday Nigerian life, where it has remained.

In this very personal journey, Tayo travels around Nigeria with his country music loving mother in tow, exploring how this continued popularity can be - at least partially - attributed to the spiritual qualities that Nigerian audiences hear in country. Too slow to work as dance music, filled with the otherworldly sounds of pedal steel and orchestral strings, and laced with a decidedly Christian morality, country music has become known as a contemplative style, designed to carry the listener beyond daily life.

Tayo considers the impact of Jim Reeves on Nigerian legends like Chief Ebenezer Obey (who appears and sings in person on the programme), as well as his influence on younger contemporary musicians like Ogak Jay Oke and Stephen Rwang Pam.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:00 News Summary (b09cvwzp)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed (b09cz3m2)
Series 2, 07/11/2017

Series exploring the issues surrounding Britain's leaving of the European Union.


TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b09cvwzr)
Call You and Yours

Consumer phone-in.


TUE 12:57 Weather (b09cvwzt)

The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b09cvwzw)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


TUE 13:45 Book of the Week (b09cz3m5)
Life in the Garden, The Written Garden

Penelope Lively's intimate meditation on gardening, literature and creativity continues as she turns her attention to the garden in fiction.

Penelope Lively has always been a keen gardener. This book is partly a memoir of her own life in gardens: the large garden at home in Cairo where she spent most of her childhood, her Oxfordshire garden and the smaller urban garden in the North London home she lives in today. In this intimate and eloquent work of narrative non-fiction, one of the UK's most cherished and admired writers uses the garden to break open the world for us, and examines how we might encourage our lives to bloom.

Read by Stephanie Cole
Abridged by Siân Preece
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b09cylyt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b065vsf1)
Undercover Mumbai, Episode 2

Disgraced police inspector Alia Khan is enlisted to help catch a serial killer whose preferred location for his crimes is the rooftop of the hotel where Alia is receptionist. Teaming up with incompetent Inspector Ratna Shinde, it soon becomes clear that the murderer is trying to communicate something to Alia through the victims themselves.

Concluding episode of the second series of the police detective drama, set and recorded on location in Mumbai. Written by Ayeesha Menon and directed by John Dryden.

Production:
Sound Recordist - Ayush Ahuja
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Script Editor - Phillip Shelley
Music - Sacha Putnam.
Writer - Ayeesha Menon
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Producer - Nadir Khan
Director - John Dryden

A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (b09cvrb7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b09cz3m8)
Donald Trump's Footprint

It's a year since President Trump was elected.

In that time he has appointed a climate sceptic as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, he has insisted that he will bring the coal industry back, and he still has not appointed a science advisor.

Roger Harrabin travels to the USA to meet those spearheading the resistance to President Trump's climate policies.

In California he meets Governor Jerry Brown. Jerry is determined that California pushes ahead towards a cleaner future. He visits the world's largest battery storage plant near San Diego, and travels to the San Gorgonio Pass, the site of one of the world's largest wind farms.

Heading east from California to Ohio, and coal country, Roger meets Bob Murray, head of the Murray Energy Corp. Bob is determined to see coal jobs protected, but even he believes that coal's heyday has passed, but he remains bullish.

Roger also meets form science advisor to President Obama, Dr John Holdren. John thinks that economics should ensure that the USA remains on a path to cleaner energy.

Producer Martin Poyntz-Roberts.


TUE 16:00 Law in Action (b09cz3mc)

Legal magazine programme presented by Joshua Rozenberg.


TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b09cz3mf)
Rick Edwards and George Lamb

Presenters Rick Edwards and George Lamb join Harriett Gilbert to talk favourite books, including Dave Eggers' Heroes of the Frontier and Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam. Producer Sally Heaven.


TUE 17:00 PM (b09cvwzy)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09cvx00)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b09cz3mk)
Series 12, The Legacy

Episode 3: The Legacy

It came as no great surprise to Ed that when his father, Sidney, died he made sure that no one got a mention in his will by not leaving one. Ed's son Jake, never one to miss an opportunity to make some money, introduces Ed to his old school friend Dozzer who it transpires is a qualified heir hunter who has discovered that the late Sidney Reardon had a property which Ed could inherit. All he needs to do is proves his identity and keep his children away from it.

Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas
Produced by Dawn Ellis
It was a BBC Studios Production.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b09cz3mm)

Lilian's suspicions rise, and Harrison has questions for one villager.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (b09cvx02)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


TUE 19:45 Living With The Gods (b09cz0jl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b09cz3mp)

Current affairs documentary series.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b09cvx04)

News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.


TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b09cz4d1)

Claudia Hammond presents a series that explores the limits and potential of the human mind.


TUE 21:30 The Invisible Hand of Donald Trump (b09cz05b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b09cvx06)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09dm987)
First Person, Episode 2

Kif Kehlmann is a penniless writer. He has never been published. In fact, he hasn't even completed his first novel. But he is committed to literature - great literature.

Kif and his wife Suzy have a young daughter and they are also expecting twins, they can't pay their bills and interest rates are spiralling out of control in early 1990s Australia. So when Kif's best mate Ray, who happens to be minder and bodyguard to Australia's most notorious conman, suggests Kif accepts the job offer of ghostwriting the fraudster's memoir, Kif has a dilemma.

But it doesn't take him long to abandon literature in favour of actually getting a book published - and getting paid. The only problem is they have less than six weeks before Australia's most wanted, Ziggy Heidl, goes on trial - and Ziggy appears pathologically incapable of telling the truth about anything.

First Person is the novel Richard Flanagan began to write just before he won the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to The Deep North (2014), a novel which was acclaimed by The Guardian as a masterpiece. He has also been described as the greatest Australian writer of his generation.

As a penniless young writer, he accepted the job of ghostwriting the autobiography of Australia's most famous criminal who was about to go on trial for defrauding the banks of $700 million dollars. John Friedrich, the conman, died before he went to trial. Decades later, Flanagan takes this bizarre, real life episode as the starting point for a chilling and at times darkly funny novel about truth and lies and the difference between good and evil.

Written by Richard Flanagan
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Read by Luke Mullins
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 23:00 Fred at The Stand (b09cz4d4)
Series 1, Johns, Storrie, Brister and Graffoe

Fred MacAulay introduces some of the funniest comedians in the UK doing what they do best - pure stand-up comedy. Recorded at The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh.

This week, Dave Johns tells tales of coping with stardom following the success of I, Daniel Blake, Glaswegian Ashley Storrie tries to get one over her father at Christmas time, Jen Brister is proud to not to be a biological mother, and Boothby Graffoe is himself and cares not what anyone thinks.

A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b09cvx08)

Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.



WEDNESDAY 08 NOVEMBER 2017

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b09cvx25)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b09cz3m5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09cvx27)

The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09cvx29)

WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09cvx2c)

The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b09cvx2f)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b09fc4lv)

A reading and a reflection to start the day, with Canon Sarah Rowland Jones, priest in charge of the City Parish of St John the Baptist in Cardiff.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b09cvx2h)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09czn7h)
Gary Moore on the Woodlark

When wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore put on his headphones to capture the sound of a woodlark his recording revealed some unusual behaviour that was snapped up by the Springwatch TV team.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photograph: Ian Redman.


WED 06:00 Today (b09cvx2k)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Only Artists (b09czn7m)
Series 3, 08/11/2017

Series in which two artists discuss creative questions.


WED 09:30 Life Drawing (b091sz8s)
Series 1, George Osborne meets Martin Rowson

Martin Rowson is a political cartoonist, author and renowned cynic, who sees his work as "visual journalism". His pen has made mincemeat of politics and politicians for many years. Through this series of ink-splattered interviews, he now has the chance to sit down to draw and question the people who have shaped his work and wider life.

First up: ex-chancellor George Osborne, who Martin has lampooned mercilessly for the past decade. But did his pictures ever land any punches? And, did Osborne ever care?

In this five part series, Martin also puts pen to paper with political journalist Julia Langdon, illustrator Ralph Steadman, zoologist Sarah Christie and punk poet John Cooper Clarke.

Photographer: Sam Finney.
Producer: Becky Ripley.


WED 09:45 Living With The Gods (b09czn7x)
Holy Killing

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on sacrifice..

Displayed in the British Museum is a finely-crafted Aztec knife, dating from around 1500, with a richly-decorated handle. It had a brutal purpose - human sacrifice.

In ancient Greece, animal sacrifice was a vital ritual for connection with the deities: the grounds of a Greek temple were in part a sacred public slaughter-house.

Producer Paul Kobrak

Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09cvx2m)
The Woman's Hour Craft Prize winner announcement live from the V&A

We had 1500 applicants, 34 judges, a lot of deliberation and some amazing work. There was a fantastic array of entrants for the Woman's Hour Craft Prize in partnership with the V&A and the Crafts Council. Since September, 12 finalists have been exhibiting their work at the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition. Today we are live from the Museum to find out who has won the £10,000 prize.

To announce the winner, live on the programme, Jenni and Jane are joined by the final 5 judges; Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A; Rosy Greenlees, director of the Crafts Council; Martha Kearney of BBC Radio 4's World at One; Style blogger and consultant Susie Lau and art historian Jacky Klein. They'll be talking about how they decided on the winner; what is the status of craft today and Martina Margetts, craft writer and lecturer at the RCA. joins the conversation to talk about the future of craft.

Producer: Corinna Jones
Editor: Karen Dalziel.


WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b09czn81)
Blood and Milk, Episode 3

by Gregory Evans

Samuel has disappeared and Meg is frantic. But the stakes are raised when a body is discovered in the Thames mud that threatens to ruin Meg, her business and her ally Dora Lipski.

Directed by Marc Beeby.


WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b09czn87)
Rachel and Viba - Nothing Down about Down's

Mothers of children with Down's feel their daughters have a lot to offer the world. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.


WED 11:00 The Confidence Trick (b09czp4l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Mae Martin's Guide to 21st Century Addiction (b09czrbc)

Mae Martin is kicking the habit.

Award-winning stand-up and Edinburgh comedy award nominee 2017 Mae Martin presents a brand new series for Radio 4.

Mae's exploring how we as a society think about addiction, and on a personal level, trying to understand who she is now she's no longer addicted to anything. Through the lens of her own experience, Mae Martin's Guide to 21st Century Addiction follows Mae chronologically through a lifetime of obsessive behaviour and addiction with all her characteristic wit and levity.

Episode 2 - Why are some people more susceptible to addiction than others? And what can we do about it?
Sober, un-obsessed, and single for the first time in her life, Mae is asking: Who am I when I'm NOT addicted? And what's next? Mae looks at how society views addiction and recovery, and what connections we can make between identifying why people feel the need to self-soothe, and helping them on the road to recovery in a compassionate way.

Written by and starring Mae Martin
With Dr Gabor Mate

Producer Alexandra Smith
Production Coordinator Beverley Tagg

A BBC Studios Production.


WED 12:00 News Summary (b09cvx2p)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed (b09czrbf)
Series 2, Nuclear Confusion

Britain is leaving Euratom. Euratom is not technically apart of the EU but is entangled with it. It deals with the safety of and research for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. So what are the implications of leaving Euratom? And is there cause for concern? Chris Morris presents.
Producer: David Edmonds.


WED 12:15 You and Yours (b09cvx2r)

Consumer affairs programme.


WED 12:57 Weather (b09cvx2t)

The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b09cvx2w)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


WED 13:45 Book of the Week (b09czrbh)
Life in the Garden, The Fashionable Garden

Stephanie Cole reads Penelope Lively's intimate meditation on gardening, literature and creativity. Today's episode considers the influence of fashion on gardens.

Penelope Lively has always been a keen gardener. This book is partly a memoir of her own life in gardens: the large garden at home in Cairo where she spent most of her childhood, her Oxfordshire garden and the smaller urban garden in the North London home she lives in today. In this intimate and eloquent work of narrative non-fiction, one of the UK's most cherished and admired writers uses the garden to break open the world for us, and examines how we might encourage our lives to bloom.

Abridged by Siân Preece
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b09cz3mm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b09czrbl)
Remote

He is surprised she cannot remember why she left. It may have been nearly 30 years ago, but he can. And he's always hoped she would come back to him. Their lives
have drifted to opposite sides of the world but perhaps they are not as remote from each other as they think. Over the years, it becomes increasingly possible
to find almost anyone on the internet.

Raquel Cassidy (Downtown Abbey, W1A, Silent Witness, Lead Ballon) stars alongside Richard Lumsden (Doc Martin, Father Brown and R4's Clare in the Community).

Remote is a first radio drama by the award winning comedian Mark Watson. Mark has had several comedy series on Radio 4, including Mark Watson Talks a Bit About
Life, and is the host of the BBC Radio New Comedy Awards. He is a published novelist and one of his books has been optioned this year by Steven Spielberg's
studio, Amblin.

Written by Mark Watson
Directed by Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 15:00 Money Box (b09cvx2y)
Money Box Live

Financial phone-in.


WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b09cz4d1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b09czrbq)

Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (b09cvx30)

Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.


WED 17:00 PM (b09cvx32)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09cvx34)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers (b09czrbs)
Series 1, Animals

Andy Hamilton is a familiar and much-loved voice on Radio 4. Now for the first time on the network, he presents a collection of observations and reminiscences about both his personal life and his 40 years working in comedy.

Over this 4 part series, Andy looks at Childhood, Politics, The Human Body and Animals. Using comic observation and personal anecdotes he will explore each theme, examining how much (or how little) things have changed in the 60ish years he's been on this planet. Each programme will provide 30 minutes of thoughtful, social history, but packed with laughs.

In this episode Andy looks at the subject of Animals. From fond memories of his childhood cat Timmy's lifelong battle with the Hoover; through working with straw-boater-wearing dolphins for Not the Nine o'clock News and being unnerved by a sea lion during a phone call. This week Andy also offers many useful animal-related tips including: what to do should you ever find an unwelcome bear on your doorstep.

Andy was born in Fulham in 1954, read English at Cambridge and then in 1976 began writing comedy for BBC radio, on programmes like Week Ending and The News Huddlines. In 1990, he and Guy Jenkin created Drop the Dead Donkey for Channel 4. Andy has spent much of his working life making acute observations about politics and family life. In 2007, again with Guy Jenkin, he created the massive TV hit, Outnumbered, which celebrated the chaos of life with young children. More recently they created the highly topical Ballot Monkeys and Power Monkeys for Channel 4, which charted the absurdities of the General Election and then the EU Referendum. For over 20 years he has been playing the part of Satan in his R4 sitcom, Old Harry's Game. Andy is also a popular panellist on shows such as The News Quiz and Have I Got News For You.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b09czrby)

Ian struggles to make a good impression, and Shula is glad of a friend.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b09cvx36)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


WED 19:45 Living With The Gods (b09czn7x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b09czscv)

Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Claire Fox, Anne McElvoy, Melanie Phillips and Giles Fraser.


WED 20:45 Why I Changed My Mind (b09czscx)
Series 3, Martin Padfield

Martin Padfield was a Scientologist for 28 years, after meeting a member of the group when he was just 19 years old. He joined the elite corps at the heart of Scientology, as his whole life became dominated by the teachings and strictures of the movement. But after he married, he started to question the way he and his new family were treated. He began to doubt the organisation's integrity, and embarked on a journey that forced him to confront the reality that his whole identity was defined by Scientology.

Martin tells Dominic Lawson how hard it was to extricate himself from what many consider to be a powerful cult, and how tough the journey has been to rediscover an identity lost from the point in his youth when he threw himself into the unusual world of L Ron Hubbard and his disciples.

In "Why I Changed My Mind", Dominic Lawson interviews people who have changed their mind on controversial matters.

Producer: Jonathan Brunert.


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b09cz3m8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Only Artists (b09czn7m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b09cvx38)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09dm9t6)
First Person, Episode 3

Kif Kehlmann is a penniless writer. He has never been published. In fact, he hasn't even completed his first novel. But he is committed to literature - great literature.

Kif and his wife Suzy have a young daughter and they are also expecting twins, they can't pay their bills and interest rates are spiralling out of control in early 1990s Australia. So when Kif's best mate Ray, who happens to be minder and bodyguard to Australia's most notorious conman, suggests Kif accepts the job offer of ghostwriting the fraudster's memoir, Kif has a dilemma.

But it doesn't take him long to abandon literature in favour of actually getting a book published - and getting paid. The only problem is they have less than six weeks before Australia's most wanted, Ziggy Heidl, goes on trial - and Ziggy appears pathologically incapable of telling the truth about anything.

First Person is the novel Richard Flanagan began to write just before he won the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to The Deep North (2014), a novel which was acclaimed by The Guardian as a masterpiece. He has also been described as the greatest Australian writer of his generation.

As a penniless young writer, he accepted the job of ghostwriting the autobiography of Australia's most famous criminal who was about to go on trial for defrauding the banks of $700 million dollars. John Friedrich, the conman, died before he went to trial. Decades later, Flanagan takes this bizarre, real life episode as the starting point for a chilling and at times darkly funny novel about truth and lies and the difference between good and evil.

Written by Richard Flanagan
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Read by Luke Mullins
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:00 Little Lifetimes by Jenny Eclair (b09czt2x)
Series 4, A Nice Time with All the Family

by Jenny Eclair

Produced by Sally Avens

The last in a series of comic monologues where four women reach a crisis in their lives. Julie's always hated her birthday parties so she's determined her 60th will be different but her family don't seem to have heard.

Beverley Callard is best known for playing Liz McDonald in Coronation Street but has also found time to appear in 'The Rise and Fall of Little Voice', Two Pints of Lager and A Packet of Crisps and 'Mile High' amongst other television appearances.


WED 23:15 Yours Truly, Pierre Stone (b09czt2z)
Series 1, Episode 3

Sam Bain's adaptation of his own darkly comic satirical novel about Pierre Stone, a man so engrossed in the lives of TV stars that he completely ignores the disintegration of his own life.

This week Pierre's attempts to attract the attention of Strictly Come Dancing's Tess Daly leads to him dropping a line to Claudia Winkleman. Perhaps, he thinks, if he can play them off against each other Tess will get jealous and realise that she really ought to reply to at least one of his fan messages. In his efforts to get Tess jealous enough to notice he exists Pierre also recruits local ne'er-do-well Vicky to take part in a rather unlikely game of celebrity Twister...

Starring Alex Macqueen and Lolly Adefope.

Produced by Gareth Edwards

A BBC Studios production.


WED 23:30 Science Stories (b087rm0b)
Series 4, The Birth of Photography

Naomi Alderman tells the story of how William Fox Talbot preserved a moment of the past forever, when he invented the photographic negative. He wasn't the only person experimenting with photography in the 1830s. In Europe and America, the hunt was on to find the right chemical mixture that would react with light to capture an image on paper or glass. Everyone knew that light had an effect on certain dyes and chemicals - think of the wallpaper which fades over time in the sunlight but the bit behind the sofa stays as bright as the day it was put up. The questions that needed answers were: how do you make a dye which reacts very precisely to sunlight? And then how do you stop your dye reacting to sunlight when you don't want it to, how do you fix the image? Fox Talbot found a way to make permanent images. In 1835 he made what is now the oldest surviving photographic negative in the world. It is a picture of the oriel latticed window at Lacock Abbey, a summer's day at his ancestral home, captured forever in the photographic pane.

Naomi Alderman discusses the speed at which Fox Talbot's invention caught on with Lynda Nead, a Professor of the History of Art at Birkbeck College, and the future of the mass reproduction of images in the digital age with technologist Bill Thompson.



THURSDAY 09 NOVEMBER 2017

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b09cvx6k)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b09czrbh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09cvx6m)

The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09cvx6p)

THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09cvx6r)

The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b09cvx6t)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b09fb6vn)

A reading and a reflection to start the day, with Canon Sarah Rowland Jones, priest in charge of the City Parish of St John the Baptist in Cardiff.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b09cvx6w)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09d3p60)
Gary Moore on the Stone Curlew

Braving dark countryside, sound recordist Gary Moore goes in search of the rarely-heard sound of the stone curlew and finds himself laying in wet grass swaying his mic in the air.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photograph: Patrick Yates.


THU 06:00 Today (b09cvx6y)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b09cvx7b)
The Picts

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Picts and, to mark our twentieth season, that discussion takes place in front of a student audience at the University of Glasgow, many of them studying this topic. According to Bede writing c731AD, the Picts, with the English, Britons, Scots and Latins, formed one of the five nations on Britain, 'an island in the ocean formerly called Albion'. The Picts is now a label given to the people who lived in Scotland north of the Forth-Clyde line from about 300 AD to 900 AD, from the time of the Romans to the time of the Vikings. They left intricately carved stones, such as the one above with a bull motif, from Burghead, Moray, Scotland, but there are relatively few other traces. Who were they, and what happened to them? And what has been learned in the last twenty years, through archaeology?

With

Katherine Forsyth

Alex Woolf

and

Gordon Noble

Producer: Simon Tillotson.


THU 09:45 Living With The Gods (b09d3r7s)
To Be a Pilgrim

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on pilgrimage, and its role in Christianity, Buddhism and Islam.

Producer Paul Kobrak

Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09cvx7j)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b09d3r7v)
Blood and Milk, Episode 4

by Gregory Evans

Meg must take drastic action when her self-proclaimed half-brother, Bren Evans, increases his demands. Meanwhile the police suspect Meg may be involved in the murder of gangster Moses Lipski.

Directed by Marc Beeby.


THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b09cvx7l)

Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.


THU 11:30 A Portrait Of... (b09d3r7x)
Juliet Stevenson

Follow artist Fiona Graham-Mackay as she paints a portrait of actor Juliet Stevenson.

What does it feel like to be painted, and then see yourself as someone else has drawn you? It can be an emotional, transformative process for both the sitter and the artist.

In many ways a portrait painter is like a detective - looking for clues below the surface to capture the sitter's true likeness. In the hush of the studio, conversations meander in unexpected ways as painter and sitter find out about each other. And as we eavesdrop on their sittings, the revelations go beyond any ordinary interview.

Juliet Stevenson gained fame through her television and film work, such as Truly Madly Deeply, although she is first and foremost one of the most celebrated stage actresses of her generation. While Fiona sketches, we hear about Juliet's itinerant childhood, and taking acting notes from her friend and fellow actor Alan Rickman.

Fiona Graham-Mackay has painted hundreds of portraits, including Prince Michael of Kent, Seamus Heaney and Lord Carrington. In all her sittings she has always been fascinated by her conversations with her subjects and continues to be amazed by how people open up in ways that surprise even themselves.

Producer: Eve Streeter
A Pier production for Radio 4.


THU 12:00 News Summary (b09cvx7n)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed (b09d3w1g)
Series 2, 09/11/2017

Series exploring the issues surrounding Britain's leaving of the European Union.


THU 12:15 You and Yours (b09cvx7q)

Consumer affairs programme.


THU 12:57 Weather (b09cvx7s)

The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b09cvx7v)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


THU 13:45 Book of the Week (b09d3w1j)
Life in the Garden, Time, Order and the Garden

Penelope Lively's intimate meditation on gardening, literature and creativity continues as she presents gardening as the ultimate defiance of time.

Penelope Lively has always been a keen gardener. This book is partly a memoir of her own life in gardens: the large garden at home in Cairo where she spent most of her childhood, her Oxfordshire garden and the smaller urban garden in the North London home she lives in today. In this intimate and eloquent work of narrative non-fiction, one of the UK's most cherished and admired writers uses the garden to break open the world for us, and examines how we might encourage our lives to bloom.

Read by Stephanie Cole
Abridged by Siân Preece
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.


THU 14:00 The Archers (b09czrby)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b06kcbvw)
Blue Glory

By Hayley Squires.

For almost ten years Terence and his daughter Lillian have barely spoken to one another. But tonight, on his 60th birthday, father and daughter are reunited to watch their beloved football team vie for championship victory. Will they find reconciliation as satisfying as winning?

A tender drama about the fragile relationship between a father and a daughter, and the unifying power of the beautiful game.

Directed by Helen Perry

A BBC Cymru Wales Production.


THU 15:00 Open Country (b09d3w1l)
Bell-ringing in Devon

Meditation, a celebration, a warning, the marking of a solemn occasion, music: bells are a public sound that changes according to the landscape. And bell-ringing in Devon is unique: it all sounds a bit trance, according to Mary Ward-Lowery. She hears other mind-bending sounds in this programme, including the noisy tramping of ants' feet and the peaceful fusion of bells and birdsong.

With artist Marcus Vergette, sound recordist Tony Whitehead, an award-winning band of Devon call-change ringers, oh, and a steeplejack who spends his life mending church towers rocked by centuries of bells swinging the mortar loose.


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b09cvytv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Bookclub (b09cvzhr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b09d3w1n)

Radio 4's weekly film programme.


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b09cvx7x)

Adam Rutherford investigates the news in science and science in the news.


THU 17:00 PM (b09cvx7z)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09cvx81)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar (b09d431q)
Series 2, Britain's Place in the World

The Godfather of Alternative Comedy delivers a mixture of stand-up, memoir and philosophy from behind the counter of his Imaginary Sandwich Bar.

Episode 1 - Britain's Place in the World

Alexei considers Britain's place in the world and discusses his return to stand-up comedy after a 17 year hiatus. Along the way he reveals where all of the Millets shops have gone, discloses the key to reworking old material for a modern audience and offers a compelling argument for Britain losing a war - and soon.

Written and performed by Alexei Sayle
Original music and lyrics by Tim Sutton
Produced by Joe Nunnery
A BBC Studios Production.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b09d431t)

Lilian turns detective, and Elizabeth is put on the spot.


THU 19:15 Front Row (b09cvx83)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


THU 19:45 Living With The Gods (b09d3r7s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


THU 20:00 Law in Action (b09cz3mc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]


THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b09d4321)
Pets Mean Pounds

Evan Davis presents the business magazine.


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b09cvx7x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b09cvx7b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b09cvx85)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09dmqlk)
First Person, Episode 4

Kif Kehlmann is a penniless writer. He has never been published. In fact, he hasn't even completed his first novel. But he is committed to literature - great literature.

Kif and his wife Suzy have a young daughter and they are also expecting twins, they can't pay their bills and interest rates are spiralling out of control in early 1990s Australia. So when Kif's best mate Ray, who happens to be minder and bodyguard to Australia's most notorious conman, suggests Kif accepts the job offer of ghostwriting the fraudster's memoir, Kif has a dilemma.

But it doesn't take him long to abandon literature in favour of actually getting a book published - and getting paid. The only problem is they have less than six weeks before Australia's most wanted, Ziggy Heidl, goes on trial - and Ziggy appears pathologically incapable of telling the truth about anything.

First Person is the novel Richard Flanagan began to write just before he won the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to The Deep North (2014), a novel which was acclaimed by The Guardian as a masterpiece. He has also been described as the greatest Australian writer of his generation.

As a penniless young writer, he accepted the job of ghostwriting the autobiography of Australia's most famous criminal who was about to go on trial for defrauding the banks of $700 million dollars. John Friedrich, the conman, died before he went to trial. Decades later, Flanagan takes this bizarre, real life episode as the starting point for a chilling and at times darkly funny novel about truth and lies and the difference between good and evil.

Written by Richard Flanagan
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Read by Luke Mullins
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:00 The Absolutely Radio Show (b069h77m)
Series 1, Episode 2

Members of the cast of Channel 4's hugely popular sketch show Absolutely reunite for a brand new radio series.
Pete Baikie, Morwenna
Banks, Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and John Sparkes are back together with all new material. They are revisiting some of their much loved sketch characters, while also introducing some newcomers to the show.

In 2013, the group got back together for Radio 4's Sketchorama: Absolutely Special, which won a BBC Audio Drama Award in the Best Live Scripted Comedy category.

This second episode of the series features The Stoneybridge Town Council attempting to cover up a possible bribery scandal, Denzil and Gwynned discussing son Codfyl's starring role in a nativity play, the Little Girl's very personal take on having her Tonsils out and Calum Gilhooley trying to get an appointment with a doctor for something "quite urgent".

Mr Muzak sings about the joys of being alone with your computer and the Commissionaire very nearly undergoes an appendectomy. Ther's more from Talking Facebook and the People's War, with stories from those who were nearly there.

Produced by Gus Beattie and Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely/Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:30 Science Stories (b084xrd8)
Series 4, The man who predicted deforestation and climate change 200 years ago

The man who predicted deforestation and harmful human induced climate change 200 years ago. When Alexander von Humboldt explored the South American rain forests he realised that nature was a 'web of life' and witnessed how human activities were catastrophically damaging the landscape. Historian Andrea Wulf argues that climbing Chimborazo, then believed to be the highest peak in the world, was Humboldt's equivalent to modern day satellite pictures showing the devastation of deforestation. Looking down he recognised the significance of what he saw, so why did it take so long for science to take such concerns seriously? Philip Ball discusses this question with Kathy Willis, Director of Science at Kew Gardens.



FRIDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2017

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b09cvxb2)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b09d3w1j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09cvxb4)

The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09cvxb6)

FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09cvxb8)

The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b09cvxbb)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b09fb1b8)

A reading and a reflection to start the day, with Canon Sarah Rowland Jones, priest in charge of the City Parish of St John the Baptist in Cardiff.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b09cvxbd)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09d43wk)
Gary Moore on the Skylark

Wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore hears a skylark at the site of the Battle of the Somme and imagines soldiers over a century ago finding comfort in that familiar British sound.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photograph: Andy Harris.


FRI 06:00 Today (b09cvxbg)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b09cvytz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Living With The Gods (b09d43wm)
Festivals

Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time, and focuses on festivals, and their role in shaping a communal identity.

Producer Paul Kobrak

Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09cvxbj)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b09d43ws)
Blood and Milk, Episode 5

by Gregory Evans

Having revealed Bren Evans to be a fraud, Megan must now tackle her real enemy. Samuel, meanwhile, is forced to reveal some surprising secrets of his own.

Directed by Marc Beeby.


FRI 11:00 Military Memory, and the Sacred Space (b09d4bkp)

Within the collective memory of the British public, the battle of Passchendaele has come to represent the total horror of the First World War. Horses dragged into the mud, the rising casualties, the utter despair - all of this lives on in our memory of World War One today. These images play into how we think about the merits and consequences of war.

Giles Fraser looks at how the dawning realisation that husbands, brothers and sons weren't coming back from Passchendaele - and that their bodies would remain on the battlefield in row upon row of simple, white graves - created a desire to memorialise the war dead in many personal ways.

The church played an important role in creating centres for remembering, but often these came from the personal grief of mothers and wives who created temporary shrines which later became more permanent memorials in churches and town centres. Sometimes, families had crosses brought back from the battlefield and placed in churches - and sacred spaces were either re-purposed or specially established to absorb our immense sense of loss.

Giles Fraser visits families who today still mourn the loss of their brave family members who never had the chance to come home. He considers the role memorials play in providing a a space for this mourning.

Presenter: Giles Fraser
Producers: Ellie Clifford and Aidan Judd
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 11:30 Big Problems with Helen Keen (b09d4bkr)
Series 2, Care

This week's Big Problem with Helen Keen is; Care

Who cares? Why do we care? If genes are selfish why is altruism attractive? Is fairness built into our brains? What is the future of empathy? What is the cost of love?

We look at how technology can help us deal with keeping an ageing population healthy, happy & independent, and why the latest Japanese nursing robot has the face of a bear. Does technology isolate us, or does it over-connect us. We look at how it can keep us linked to others & feeling 'cared about' at any age, and the vanishing luxury of solitude.

And we ask in an age when rolling global news can tell us about every awful thing under the sun, how could we care less?

As humanity faces a very big raft of very varied problems, many of them of its own making, here is a series of optimistic, scientifically literate yet comically nimble shows that offer a sweeping overview of the biggest challenges we face and the science behind them. We look at the often surprising solutions of past generations and the likely and unlikely solutions of the future and present a scrupulously researched comedy celebrating human ingenuity.

Written by Helen Keen, Jenny Laville, Lloyd Langford and Carrie Quinlan.
Cast: Helen Keen, Jon Culshaw and Susy Kane.
Producer was Katie Tyrrell and it was a BBC Studios Production.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (b09cvxbl)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed (b09d4bkt)
Series 2, 10/11/2017

Series exploring the issues surrounding Britain's leaving of the European Union.


FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b09cvxbn)

Consumer news and issues.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b09cvxbq)

The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b09cvxbs)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


FRI 13:45 Book of the Week (b09d4bkw)
Life in the Garden, Town and Country

Stephanie Cole reads Penelope Lively's intimate meditation on gardening, literature and creativity. Today's episode considers city allotments and the suburban garden.

Penelope Lively has always been a keen gardener. This book is partly a memoir of her own life in gardens: the large garden at home in Cairo where she spent most of her childhood, her Oxfordshire garden and the smaller urban garden in the North London home she lives in today. In this intimate and eloquent work of narrative non-fiction, one of the UK's most cherished and admired writers uses the garden to break open the world for us, and examines how we might encourage our lives to bloom.

Abridged by Siân Preece
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b09d431t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Tommies (b09d4bky)
10 November 1917

From T E Lawrence and the Great Pyramid at Giza, to the Third Battle of Gaza, Tommies explores the Intelligence battle redrawing the Middle East, in this two-part adventure starring Indira Varma and Lee Ross.

Through camel chases, train derailments, riots and assassination squads, British intelligence and anti-colonial sedition go head to head in Cairo - where Mickey's about to meet some surprisingly familiar faces.

Meticulously based on unit war diaries and eye-witness accounts, each episode of TOMMIES traces one real day at war, exactly 100 years ago.

And through it all, we'll follow the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers, from the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army. They are the cogs in an immense machine, one which connects situations across the whole theatre of the war, over four long years.

Written by Jonathan Ruffle and Avin Shah.

Producers: David Hunter, Jonquil Panting, Jonathan Ruffle
Director: Jonquil Panting and David Hunter.


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b09d4bl0)
Wellcome Trust, London

A panel of experts answer listeners' horticultural queries.


FRI 15:45 Short Works (b09d4bl2)
Series 1, Hold me in Your Light

Hold Me in Your Light. Written and performed by World Slam Poetry Champion Harry Baker.

Dan is the stag at his own stag do. It's a surreal ordeal. He feels detached, anxious about the marriage but unable to speak about feelings to his fellow stags. He escapes to the roof of the bar and sees the people below in the streets of the city he loves. For the first time he notices them glow, leaving trails of light as they move. Perhaps he's found an answer to his doubts.

Producer Mary Ward-Lowery.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b09d4bl4)

Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.


FRI 16:30 Feedback (b09d4bl6)

Radio 4's forum for audience comment.


FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b09d4bl8)
Becky and Lorna - An Equal Chance

Friends with learning disabilities claim the right to respect and full-time employment. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.


FRI 17:00 PM (b09cvxbv)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09cvxbx)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b09d4blb)
Series 51, Episode 2

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis re-cap the week via topical stand-up and sketches with guests David Quantick, Darren Harriott, Vikki Stone and Luke Kempner.

Producer...Victoria Lloyd
A BBC Studios Production.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b09d4bld)

Harrison imparts shocking news, and Jolene's fears are confirmed.


FRI 19:15 Front Row (b09cvxbz)

News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.


FRI 19:45 Living With The Gods (b09d43wm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b09d4blg)
Layla Moran MP

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from St John the Baptist Church in Meopham, Kent with a panel including the Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Layla Moran MP.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b09d4blj)
The miserable pantomime of contemporary British vegetarianism

"As the years have passed", writes Will Self, "so gnawing on a bloody piece of cow rump has come to seem, to me, more and more...well, vulgar".

Via Leviticus and Arcimboldo, he charts his conversion to vegetarianism.

And he explains why it's not just personal morals that are "propelling me headlong towards the horror of Quorn"!

Producer: Adele Armstrong.


FRI 21:00 Archive on 4 (b07654x0)
The Unabomber

Twenty years ago the FBI ended their longest-running domestic terrorism investigation with the arrest of the Unabomber, a notorious serial bomber obsessed with technology. It's a story of a devastating fraternal dilemma, a 17-year manhunt and a controversial media decision to publish the bomber's demands.

Between 1978 and 1995, Theodore Kaczynski lived in a remote cabin in rural Montana, from where he planned the downfall of industrial society. A former Harvard scholar and the youngest-ever professor at University of California, Kaczynski was motivated by a desire to punish proponents of technology - from a senior geneticist to a junior computer salesman.

Kaczynski made 16 bombs that killed three people and injured 23, some severely.

Then, controversially, America's two most prestigious newspapers, on the advice of the FBI, agreed to publish his 35,000-word manifesto - triggering a debate about media ethics that persists to this day. The gamble paid off in a most unexpected way.

Two decades on, as terror dominates the news agenda and we continue to debate the relationship between technology and security, Benjamin Ramm re-visits the extraordinary story of the Unabomber.

Benjamin meets some of the key figures in the hunt for one of America's most wanted - those he hurt, those who knew him and those who tried to capture him. And, alongside media reports of his crimes, we hear some of the words of the Unabomber himself, through excerpts from his extensive notes and writings.

Produced by Rebecca Maxted
A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b09cvxc1)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09dmq2p)
First Person, Episode 5

Kif Kehlmann is a penniless writer. He has never been published. In fact, he hasn't even completed his first novel. But he is committed to literature - great literature.

Kif and his wife Suzy have a young daughter and they are also expecting twins, they can't pay their bills and interest rates are spiralling out of control in early 1990s Australia. So when Kif's best mate Ray, who happens to be minder and bodyguard to Australia's most notorious conman, suggests Kif accepts the job offer of ghostwriting the fraudster's memoir, Kif has a dilemma.

But it doesn't take him long to abandon literature in favour of actually getting a book published - and getting paid. The only problem is they have less than six weeks before Australia's most wanted, Ziggy Heidl, goes on trial - and Ziggy appears pathologically incapable of telling the truth about anything.

First Person is the novel Richard Flanagan began to write just before he won the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to The Deep North (2014), a novel which was acclaimed by The Guardian as a masterpiece. He has also been described as the greatest Australian writer of his generation.

As a penniless young writer, he accepted the job of ghostwriting the autobiography of Australia's most famous criminal who was about to go on trial for defrauding the banks of $700 million dollars. John Friedrich, the conman, died before he went to trial. Decades later, Flanagan takes this bizarre, real life episode as the starting point for a chilling and at times darkly funny novel about truth and lies and the difference between good and evil.

Written by Richard Flanagan
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Read by Luke Mullins
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b09cz3mf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Science Stories (b08wphjl)
Series 5, Caroline Herschel and the Comets

As the youngest daughter in her family, Caroline Herschel was destined for a life of drudgery helping her mother in the home in Hanover. But when she was twenty one her musician and astronomer brother William persuaded the family that he needed her to perform in concerts he was running in Bath. Caroline became a well respected singer, but when William's passion became astronomy she followed.

Caroline became William's assistant. She ran the household and he taught her to look at the stars, schooling her in his techniques for long nights spent "sweeping the stars" - taking a small patch of sky and noting everything she saw there, then moving on methodically. Although she was initially reluctant to take up astronomy she began to enjoy it. William built her a telescope and on 1st August 1786, Caroline found her first comet.

William had already impressed King George the Third with his discovery of the planet Uranus five years earlier. In September 1786, the royal family summoned William "to exhibit the new comet lately discovered by his sister, Miss Herschel". Along with an enormous grant to William to continue his work, the King gave Caroline £50 a year for life. This was the first time a salary was ever paid to a female scientist in Britain.

Naomi Alderman tells Caroline Herschel's story and discusses what women could achieve in science in the eighteenth century with historian Professor Marilyn Ogilvie of the University of Oklahoma, the author of a biography of Caroline.

Alan Fitzsimmons, Professor of Astronomy at Queens University, Belfast, talks to Naomi about the Caroline's legacy, how comets are discovered today and why researchers want to study them.


FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b09d4byy)
Hannah and Emma - Diabetes Then and Now

One has a son with diabetes, the other grew up with a sister with the condition. The treatment has changed a lot. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.